Avaliação da influência dosimétrica dos implantes dentários de titânio em VMAT de cabeça e pescoço

The head and neck cancer is more prevalent in men, predominantly middle or elderly age, featuring a group of individuals with high probability of having done osseointegrated dental implants. Most of these implants are made of titanium and the interaction of X-ray photons with this high atomic number material and high electron density generates scattering and disturbance on radiation dose in their interfaces, generating dosimetric uncertainties in the head and neck radiotherapy treatments. The aim of this study is to assess the dosimetric impact of dental implants of titanium in head and neck VMAT. For this, irradiation of phantom was performed in the presence of a titanium dental implant for direct field and with application of CShape Easy and Head and Neck tests proposed by the TG 119, adapted to VMAT. The planning of these cases was conducted according to criteria determined by the AAPM, with Monaco 5.0 software, and the treatment is in Linear Accelerator Synergy Elekta. The measurements were performed with Semiflex ionization chamber and electrometer US PTW, radiochromic film GafChromic EBT3 scanned with the Epson Expression XL scanner and analysis with the software VeriSoft 6.0. The results of the distribution and dose profiles found in direct irradiation field show that the presence of titanium dental implant causes significant dose disturbance. Due to the presence of the material was also increased the difference between the calculated and the measured dose when compared to irradiation of the homogeneous phantom. But in the dosimetry of TG 119 cases this difference was irrelevant. The dose calculated by the software and the measure with the ionization chamber had negligible differences, as well as the consent of the gamma criterion for cases with and without the presence of dental titanium implant. The results are satisfactory and consistent with other author’s tests in homogeneous phantoms. The impact of dental titanium implant presence can be minimized through the manual delimitation of the metal object and artifact generated and by assigning the electron density values corrected them, and include them as organs with dose constraints on optimization planning. From the testing CShape Easy and Head and Neck TG 119 of the AAPM, we have verified that following the recommendations described, the planning system Monaco 5.0 is capable of performing dose calculations with high degree of accuracy for head and neck VMAT in patients with titanium dental implant.O câncer de cabeça e pescoço tem maior prevalência em homens, predominantemente de meia ou terceira idade, caracterizando um grupo de indivíduos com grande probabilidade em ter realizado implantes dentários ósseointegrados. A maior parte desses implantes é feito de titânio e a interação dos fótons de raios X com esse material de alto número atômico e elevada densidade eletrônica gera grande espalhamento de radiação e perturbação de dose nas suas interfaces, gerando incertezas dosimétricas nos tratamentos de radioterapia de cabeça e pescoço. O objetivo desse estudo é avaliar a influência dosimétrica dos implantes dentários de titânio em VMAT de cabeça e pescoço. Para isso, foi realizada irradiação de um fantoma de água sólida com a presença de um implante dentário de titânio por campo direto e com a aplicação adaptada para VMAT dos testes CShape Easy e Head and Neck, propostos pelo TG 119. O planejamento desses casos foi realizado conforme critérios determinados pela AAPM, com o software Monaco 5.0, e a execução do tratamento em Acelerador Linear Synergy, da Elekta. As medidas foram realizadas com câmara de ionização Semiflex e eletrômetro UNIDOS PTW, filme radiocrômico GafChromic EBT3 com varredura no scanner Epson Expression XL e análise com o software VeriSoft 6.0. Os resultados da distribuição e perfis de dose encontrados na irradiação de campo direto comprovam que a presença de implante dentário de titânio causa perturbações de dose significativas. Em decorrência da presença do material, também foi aumentada a diferença entre dose calculada e medida, quando comparada à irradiação de fantoma homogêneo. Porém na dosimetria dos casos do TG 119 essa diferença foi irrelevante. A dose calculada pelo software e a medida com a câmara de ionização tiveram diferenças insignificantes, assim como a concordância do critério gamma para os casos com e sem a presença do implante dentário de titânio. Os resultados encontrados são satisfatórios e compatíveis com testes de outros autores em irradiações de fantomas homogêneos. O impacto da presença do implante dentário de titânio pode ser minimizado através do delineamento manual do objeto metálico e do artefato gerado por ele e através da atribuição de valores de densidade eletrônica corrigidos a eles, além de incluí-los como órgãos com restrição de dose na otimização do planejamento. A partir da aplicação dos testes CShape Easy e Head and Neck do TG 119 da AAPM, foi comprovado que seguindo as recomendações descritas, o sistema de planejamento Monaco 5.0 com é capaz de realizar cálculos de dose com elevado grau de exatidão para VMAT de cabeça e pescoço em pacientes com implante dentário de titânio

Radiobiology Textbook:Space Radiobiology

The study of the biologic effects of space radiation is considered a “hot topic,” with increased interest in the past years. In this chapter, the unique characteristics of the space radiation environment will be covered, from their history, characterization, and biological effects to the research that has been and is being conducted in the field. After a short introduction, you will learn the origin and characterization of the different types of space radiation and the use of mathematical models for the prediction of the radiation doses during different mission scenarios and estimate the biological risks due to this exposure. Following this, the acute, chronic, and late effects of radiation exposure in the human body are discussed before going into the detailed biomolecular changes affecting cells and tissues, and in which ways they differ from other types of radiation exposure. The next sections of this chapter are dedicated to the vast research that has been developed through the years concerning space radiation biology, from small animals to plant models and 3D cell cultures, the use of extremophiles in the study of radiation resistance mechanisms to the importance of ground-based irradiation facilities to simulate and study the space environment

On the investigation of a novel x-ray imaging techniques in radiation oncology

Radiation therapy is indicated for nearly 50% of cancer patients in Australia. Radiation therapy requires accurate delivery of ionising radiation to the neoplastic tissue and pre-treatment in situ x-ray imaging plays an important role in meeting treatment accuracy requirements. Four dimensional cone-beam computed tomography (4D CBCT) is one such pre-treatment imaging technique that can help to visualise tumour target motion due to breathing at the time of radiation treatment delivery. Measuring and characterising the target motion can help to ensure highly accurate therapeutic x-ray beam delivery. In this thesis, a novel pre-treatment x-ray imaging technique, called Respiratory Triggered 4D cone-beam Computed Tomography (RT 4D CBCT), is conceived and investigated. Specifically, the aim of this work is to progress the 4D CBCT imaging technology by investigating the use of a patient’s breathing signal to improve and optimise the use of imaging radiation in 4D CBCT to facilitate the accurate delivery of radiation therapy. These investigations are presented in three main studies: 1. Introduction to the concept of respiratory triggered four dimensional conebeam computed tomography. 2. A simulation study exploring the behaviour of RT 4D CBCT using patientmeasured respiratory data. 3. The experimental realisation of RT 4D CBCT working in a real-time acquisitions setting. The major finding from this work is that RT 4D CBCT can provide target motion information with a 50% reduction in the x-ray imaging dose applied to the patient

Modelling and verification of doses delivered to deformable moving targets in radiotherapy

During the last two decades, advanced treatment techniques have been developed in radiotherapy to achieve more conformal beam targeting of cancerous lesions. The advent of these techniques, such as intensity modulated radiotherapy (IMRT), volumetric modulated arc radiothreapy (VMAT), Tomotherapy etc., allows more precise localisation of higher doses to complex-shaped target volumes, thereby sparing more healthy tissue. In this context, motion management is a critical issue in contemporary radiotherapy (RT). That anatomic structures move during respiration is well known and much research is presently being devoted to strategies to contend with organ motion. However, moving structures are typically regarded as rigid bodies. The fact that many structures deform as a result of motion makes their resultant dose distributions difficult to measure and calculate, and has not been fully accounted for. The potential for ineffective treatments that do not take into account motion and anatomic deformation is self-evident. This thesis addresses the pressing need to investigate dose distributions in targets that deform during and/or between treatments, to ensure robust calculations for dose accumulation and delivery, thus providing the most positive outcomes for patients. This involves the direct measurement of complex and re-distributed dose in deforming objects (an experimental model), as well as calculations of the deformed dose distribution (a mathematical model). The comparison thereof aims to validate the dose deformation technique, thereby to apply the method to a clinical example such as liver stereotactic body radiotherapy. To facilitate four-dimensional deformable dosimetry for both external beam radiotherapy and brachytherapy, methodologies for three-dimensional deformed dose measurements were developed and employed using radiosensitive polymer gel combined with a cone beam optical computed tomography (CT) scanner. This includes the development of a novel prototype deformable target volume using a tissue-equivalent, deformable gel dosimetric phantom, dubbed “defgel”. This can reproducibly simulate targets subject to a range of mass- and density-conserving deformations representative of those observable in anatomical targets. This novel tool was characterised in terms of its suitability for the measurement of dose in deforming geometries. It was demonstrated that planned doses could be delivered to the deformable gel dosimeter in the presence of different deformations and complex spatial re-distributions of dose in all three dimensions could be quantified. For estimating the cumulative dose in different deformed states, deformable image registration (DIR) algorithms were implemented to ‘morph’ a dose distribution calculated by a treatment planning system. To investigate the performance of DIR and dose-warping technique, two key studies were undertaken. The first was to systematically assess the accuracy of a range of different DIR algorithms available in the public domain and quantitatively examine, in particular, low-contrast regions, where accuracy had not previously been established. This work investigates DIR algorithms in 3D via a systematic evaluation process using defgel suitable for verification of mass- and density-conserving deformations. The second study was a full three-dimensional experimental validation of the dose-warping technique using the evaluated DIR algorithm and comparing it to directly measured deformed dose distributions from defgel. It was shown that the dose-warping can be accurate, i.e. over 95% passing rate of 3D-gamma analysis with 3%/3mm criteria for given extents of deformation up to 20 mm For the application of evaluating patient treatment planning involving tumour motion/deformation, two key studies were undertaken in the context of liver stereotactic body radiotherapy. The first was a 4D evaluation of conventional 3D treatment planning, combined with 4D computed tomography, in order to investigate the extent of dosimetric differences between conventional 3D-static and path-integrated 4D-cumulative dose calculation. This study showed that the 3D planning approach overestimated doses to targets by ≤ 9% and underestimated dose to normal liver by ≤ 8%, compared to the 4D methodology. The second study was to assess a consequent reduction of healthy tissue sparing, which may increase risk for surrounding healthy tissues. Estimates for normal tissue complications probabilities (NTCP) based on the two dose calculation schemes are provided. While all NTCP were low for the employed fractionation scheme, analysis of common alternative schemes suggests potentially larger uncertainties exist in the estimation of NTCP for healthy liver and that substantial differences in these values may exist across the different fractionation schemes. These bodies of work have shown the potential to quantify such issues of under- and/or over-dosages which are quite patient dependent in RT. Studies presented in this work consolidate gel dosimetry, image guidance, DIR, dose-warping and consequent dose accumulation calculation to investigate the dosimetric impact and make more accurate evaluation of conventional 3D treatment plans. While liver stereotactic body radiotherapy (SBRT) was primarily concerned for immediate clinical application, the findings of this thesis are also applicable to other organs with various RT techniques. Most importantly, however, it is hoped that the outcomes of this thesis will help to improve treatment plan accuracy. By considering both computation and measurement, it is also hoped that this work will open new windows for future work and hence provide building blocks to further enhance the benefit of radiotherapy treatment

Investigation of time-resolved volumetric MRI to enhance MR-guided radiotherapy of moving lung tumors

In photon radiotherapy of lung cancer, respiratory-induced motion introduces systematic and statistical uncertainties in treatment planning and dose delivery. By integrating magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) in the treatment planning process in MR-guided radiotherapy (MRgRT), uncertainties in target volume definition can be reduced with respect to state-of-the-art X-ray-based approaches. Furthermore, MR-guided linear accelerators (MR-Linacs) offer dose delivery with enhanced accuracy and precision through daily treatment plan adaptation and gated beam delivery based on real-time MRI. Today, the potential of MRgRT of moving targets is, however, not fully exploited due to the lack of time-resolved four-dimensional MRI (4D-MRI) in clinical practice. Therefore, the aim of this thesis was to develop and experimentally validate new methods for motion characterization and estimation with 4D-MRI for MRgRT of lung cancer. Different concepts were investigated for all phases of the clinical workflow - treatment planning, beam delivery, and post-treatment analysis. Firstly, a novel internal target volume (ITV) definition method based on the probability-of-presence of moving tumors derived from real-time 4D-MRI was developed. The ability of the ITVs to prospectively account for changes occurring over the course of several weeks was assessed in retrospective geometric analyses of lung cancer patient data. Higher robustness of the probabilistic 4D-MRI-based ITVs against interfractional changes was observed compared to conventional target volumes defined with four-dimensional computed tomography (4D-CT). The study demonstrated that motion characterization over extended times enabled by real-time 4D-MRI can reduce systematic and statistical uncertainties associated with today’s standard workflow. Secondly, experimental validation of a published motion estimation method - the propagation method - was conducted with a porcine lung phantom under realistic patient-like conditions. Estimated 4D-MRIs with a temporal resolution of 3.65 Hz were created based on orthogonal 2D cine MRI acquired at the scanner unit of an MR-Linac. A comparison of these datasets with ground truth respiratory-correlated 4D-MRIs in geometric analyses showed that the propagation method can generate geometrically accurate estimated 4D-MRIs. These could decrease target localization errors and enable 3D motion monitoring during beam delivery at the MR-Linac in the future. Lastly, the propagation method was extended to create continuous time-resolved estimated synthetic CTs (tresCTs). The proposed method was experimentally tested with the porcine lung phantom, successively imaged at a CT scanner and an MR-Linac. A high agreement of the images and corresponding dose distributions of the tresCTs and measured ground truth 4D-CTs was found in geometric and dosimetric analyses. The tresCTs could be used for post-treatment time-resolved reconstruction of the delivered dose to guide treatment adaptations in the future. These studies represent important steps towards a clinical application of time-resolved 4D-MRI methods for enhanced MRgRT of lung tumors in the near future